Principal FPGA Engineer - contractor in Chelmsford

Company Overview

Teledyne e2v is a global leader in specialised components and subsystems for innovative solutions in medical, science, aerospace, defense, and industrial applications. The imaging sensors developed and tested at the Chelmsford site have been used on humanity’s most important space imaging missions. These include the Hubble Telescope, Kepler, GAIA, Mars Rovers, New Horizons, and Rosetta.

Space Imaging is expanding its portfolio of projects to develop Front End Electronics (FEE) systems for space applications. The systems will include a CMOS detector, FEE, an FPGA (design code in VHDL), and a microprocessor (MCU) as a complete system. The new systems require high‑quality FPGA designs to operate in space with high reliability for five‑year long missions or longer.

Position Summary And Responsibilities

Teledyne e2v is looking for a contract Principal FPGA Engineer to join their team. The candidate will acquire intimate knowledge of current and new devices, write FPGA code, and drive new FPGA development for next‑generation FEE products for space. Existing FPGA designs are typically produced using VHDL and Verilog with Microchip Libero and Xilinx Vivado.

Essential Experience

• 3+ years industrial design of FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) in VHDL and Verilog language.
• Use of Microchip Libero and/or Xilinx Vivado design environments.
• Functional verification using self‑checking test benches and simulation.
• Timing verification using timing constraints and analysis.
• Generate accurate estimates and define tasks for FPGA product delivery.
• Authoring required documentation, including requirements specifications, detailed design documents, technical reports, test specifications, user manuals, work instructions, etc.
• Use of electronic test equipment (e.g., oscilloscopes, logic analyser).
• Responsible for end‑to‑end FPGA development, maintenance, and lifecycle to achieve project goals to the required level of quality. Collaborate with Embedded Software, Electronics, and Systems Engineers to architect solutions to meet customer requirements.
• High‑speed (Gigabit) transceiver interfaces.

Advantageous Skills & Experience

• Previous experience in design for Spaceflight/Aerospace/Defense.
• Knowledge of ECSS standards and development processes.
• FPGA design techniques for high reliability and radiation environments.
• Requirement verification using UVVM test bench methodology.
• Working knowledge of SpaceWire and RMAP protocols.
• Image handling and processing.
• SVN configuration control.
• AXI interfaces.
• Automation/scripting CI/CD pipelines.